


you knew it still hurts underneath my scars

by screaminghalfpastmidnight



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: 5+1 Things, Felicity's Past, Kind of AU, Season/Series 02, Tommy is alive, also laurel and felicity supremacy as well, and they all love her accordingly, felicity is the glue, sara and felicity supremacy, that keeps everyone together, that shit is top tier, this is an old thing i wrote that i never posted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:46:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27952556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/screaminghalfpastmidnight/pseuds/screaminghalfpastmidnight
Summary: So, Sara didn’t generally worry. Their team had a knack for sorting things out together. However, when Felicity’s mother showed up at their door in the early hours of the morning, soaked from the rain and muttering apologies, a little pang of worry hit her in the chest. Not for her mother, but for Felicity’s sake. When Donna had uttered out the words - Your father, baby. He’s out of prison. - that pang turned into a shudder.ORfive times the rest of team arrow noticed something was wrong with Felicity and the one time Oliver did
Relationships: John Diggle & Felicity Smoak, Laurel Lance & Felicity Smoak, Oliver Queen/Felicity Smoak, Roy Harper & Felicity Smoak, Sara Lance & Felicity Smoak, Tommy Merlyn & Felicity Smoak
Comments: 15
Kudos: 121





	you knew it still hurts underneath my scars

**Author's Note:**

> title from "hoax" by Taylor Swift
> 
> here's a cute lil oneshot with team arrow in season 2 being a family and felicity being the glue that holds them all together

**one**

Sara was worried. Which was pretty new for her, she wasn’t really the worrier type. Sure, it made her tense when Ollie went into the field with his head in the wrong place or when Dig would get injured or when Ollie would overreact to something and Felicity would get the brunt of it. She didn’t enjoy those things, but she didn’t lose sleep over them either. She knew that they’d all figure it out, together - as a team. There weren’t many things Sara had absolute faith in, but Team Arrow (as Felicity had been calling them) was the exception. Felicity had explained to her early on that they were a family. That both Digg and Felicity trusted Oliver implicitly, and he trusted her, so they would too. It had been most clear when Felicity had taken a bullet for her.

She’d known they had to talk about it. She’d knocked on Felicity’s door later that night, both out of guilt and the urge to take care of her. Felicity had lit up when she saw the blonde at her door and invited her in immediately for some tea. They’d sat on the couch for hours, half of it being comfortable silence, the other half they spent talking. It was late into the night when Sara had asked the question she’d been going over in her head anxiously. 

“Why did you do it? I know it’s not because you wanted a scar or because you wanted to say you’d done it.”

Felicity gave her a warm smile, one that told her she knew she’d ask her that. She tugged the blanket around herself a little tighter before answering, eyes filled with sincerity. “Before this, I… didn’t really have anyone. I was an only child and my mother is… complicated. My dad’s a total asshole. I never got that close to anyone in high school or college, I was always hanging around with the wrong crowd. I didn’t really know what it meant to have someone care for you as much as you care for them… to have a family. Until Digg… and then Oliver, in his own way.”

She didn’t know why she felt the need to reassure her, but she did anyway. “Oliver adores you.”

It’s the truth. 

“I know he cares for me.”

“No, Felicity. He  _ adores _ you. I mean, the way he is when he’s with you, it’s as if everything bad we went through never happened. He doesn’t just care about you. You’re his favourite person.” She recognizes that Oliver would probably be pissed at her for telling Felicity this, but she felt the girl needed to hear it, so she can’t bring herself to care.

The smile on Felicity’s face makes it worth it anyways. It’s small, but peaceful. “Well, before those two… I was alone. Completely. I had no one. Then I got this. And you’re a part of it, Sara. You and Roy and Tommy. I care about you. For me…” She struggles to find the right words for a moment, but smiles in a way that tells Sara her words have a deeper meaning. “ _ There was no choice to make. _ ”

Sara hadn’t realized how long it’d been since she felt true friendship. The revelation stunned her. The fact that Felicity, who had zero training, and zero reason to protect her, had made a split-second decision with no hesitation to save her life, made her heart warm. Felicity offered up her spare room that night and Sara had been living with her ever since, proud to call Felicity her best friend.

So, Sara didn’t generally worry. Their team had a knack for sorting things out together. However, when Felicity’s mother showed up at their door in the early hours of the morning, soaked from the rain and muttering apologies, a little pang of worry hit her in the chest. Not for her mother, but for Felicity’s sake. When Donna had uttered out the words -  _ Your father, baby. He’s out of prison. _ \- that pang turned into a shudder.

It seemed that barely anyone on the team knew a sliver of Felicity’s past. They knew she didn’t have family, and she knew that Dig was the only one who’d met her mother but other than that, Sara had only gotten tiny tidbits of information. Her father was an asshole. She didn’t get along with her mother. She had “crippling daddy issues” - her words.

Her father being in  _ prison _ was a lot more than she’d expected. Felicity was a ball of sunshine. The entire team knew it,  _ needed _ it to be that way. None of them would survive without her accidental innuendos and tech jokes no one understands. How could she be be the product of someone in prison?   
  


Donna had practically invited herself to stay the night, opting for the couch even when Sara offered to sleep with Felicity. Sara had sat there listening to her ramble on about restraining orders and wishing she could’ve been there sooner and it took all Sara had for her to not throw up. How bad was this guy?

Donna may have been sound asleep on the couch, but Sara still snuck into Felicity’s room that night. She was still awake, just as she’d expected her to be. She climbed into the left side of the bed quietly, and waited patiently beside her, knowing she’d talk when she needed to.

Felicity was a surprising person. Every once in a while they’d be lounging at home, or most of the team would be up late at the foundry eating Big Belly Burger, or they’d be out to lunch with Tommy or Roy and something would come up about Felicity that no one expected. Like when Sara found a “Drank Jamie Under the Table” trophy in an old box when clearing out the guest room (which became hers), or when Roy and Tommy slow danced to a song an ex-boyfriend of Felicity’s wrote about her, or when they’d all been drunk one night and she’d rapped perfectly to an Eminem song. 

Sara would take any of those moments over hearing how horrible Noah Kuttler was. Her father had been a violent drunk. Although, he rarely turned his violence towards Felicity, she had still been terrified for the first eight years of her life. Then, he’d upped and left. Completely out of the blue. Her mother had been relieved, Felicity had been torn apart. But they moved on. 

He resurfaced a few years later on her thirteenth birthday. She hadn’t wanted anything to do with him at first, but eventually he’d won her over and she started meeting him in secret at his apartment. She’d spent a year dragging him in from the lawn and cleaning up beer bottles and smashed glass from his living room. A year of doing exactly what he said, always. A year of lying to her mother about the dangerous man she was spending all of her time with.

She started to show up less and less once he forgot her fourteenth birthday. Four months later, she was dragged back in again. By that time, she figured if she kept cleaning his apartment for him, then she deserved to get paid for it. She drank most of the liquor he had. He’d go get more. She’d drink what he had left when he was unconscious on his lame excuse for a couch. When he was at work, she’d use his apartment to have parties. She’d successfully kept it a secret for a month. When he’d come home from work early one day and found Chris Kelly doing a keg stand on the coffee table, he’d cheered him on and poured shots of whiskey for everyone. 

By the time she reached fifteen, Donna and Felicity were nowhere  _ near _ friends. Felicity had done everything she could to not go home. She’d even spend the night with her father. Watching family guy as he slept beside her wasn’t half as bad as screaming at her mother until morning. Felicity was lucky. Her mother and father generally worked the same hours on the complete opposite sides of town. The liquor store was a block away from her dad’s apartment and ten blocks away from her mother’s place. They never ran into each other.

It was only when Noah decided it would be a good idea to show up to Donna’s apartment on Felicity’s sixteenth, when she hadn’t been at his. Donna had been furious with the both of them. She’d called around all night and tried to figure out where her daughter was, but had no luck until Felicity stumbled in the door in the late afternoon of the next day. She’d gotten her MIT acceptance letter a week prior, and decided that her last birthday in Vegas was to be spent getting wasted (which wasn’t all that different from her previous few birthdays). She’d crashed at some random guy’s apartment and trudged home, not expecting her mother to be home and absolutely  _ livid. _

She’d been forbidden to see her father again (not that it mattered to her - she was fully planning on leaving him behind when she left for Boston) and had been put on a strict curfew that she never cared to stick to. She’d left her mother with a wave instead of a hug and her father a crude middle finger before she boarded the plane to Boston, intending to become someone entirely different. And she did.

Her  _ hacktivist _ persona didn’t last very long, especially after Cooper killed himself. At first, she’d almost drank herself into oblivion. In the midst of her breakdown, her father had arrived in Boston and practically kidnapped her, trying to take her back to Vegas. She still had scars from where he’d  _ accidentally _ hurt her and the bruises that remained for weeks couldn’t exactly be called the same thing. 

Lucky for her, he’d gone into the gas station and she’d popped the trunk and ran. She didn’t call the authorities, or her mother. Instead, she’d bought a box of hair dye and went on a shopping spree. She never saw him again after that. She’d gotten a call from her mother the day after she moved to Starling City, telling her that Noah had been booked for a few robberies and would be put away for a long time. She’d done her best not to think of him again.

Sara felt sick. Felicity barely got emotional throughout their talk, she’d even cracked a joke about not being a natural blonde. Sara did her best to reassure her that she wouldn’t let Noah anywhere near her. Felicity made her promise not to tell the others.

Donna was gone within the next two days. Everything had been business as usual. Until it hit five days since Donna had left. Sara was  _ beyond _ worried. Felicity hadn’t eaten breakfast since the morning before her mother showed up. Felicity  _ always _ ate breakfast. 

**two**

Dig had been the next to notice something was up. He knew Felicity’s mannerisms like the back of his hand and he knew she was hiding something. He knew Sara knew about it. He knew he was the only other one that had noticed a change in everyone’s favourite girl. 

She was quieter than usual. She went days without embarrassing herself in front of Oliver. She’d forgotten which day was hers to bring Big Belly for the team (it had always been Wednesday). She didn’t turn soft when Oliver showed her any sort of physical affection. Oliver was pretty dense, but even  _ he _ had noticed that. He didn’t have to say anything for Dig to know that he missed that about her, presumably the reason why shoulder touches had become a little more regular within the past few weeks, and hand holds during important moments were their new go-to.

Oliver wasn’t the only one who’d upped the physical affection with Felicity. Sara was almost always right by Felicity, the two sharing knowing looks and hand holds that lasted decades longer than the ones with Oliver. When Sara was leaving, she’d place a kiss on Felicity’s head, similar to the way Dig used to when Oliver had taken it upon himself to fuck off to Lian Yu. He did that because he knew she was having a hard time, which only made him worry more about what could possibly be wrong with her now.

He’d waited it out for a while, but her smile failed to return to her face. The last straw was when they’d been taking down a Big Bad and Felicity had  _ not _ been in the right headspace. She was beating herself up over it, as most of them did when something like this happened. They all hated when it was Felicity though. She was the best of all of them. They had developed a system for this type of thing though, after being a fully formed team for months now. Usually, Oliver would cup her face, say something meaningful to her and she’d bounce right back. 

But now, as his thumb strokes her cheek and he mutters some words about blame, her head doesn’t sink into his hand, her eyes don’t slip closed, she doesn’t let herself just  _ breathe _ . The look in her eyes isn’t her usual dopey  _ thank you _ look and she barely nods as a response. Oliver doesn’t seem to notice the vast difference, but it slaps Diggle in the face. So much so, that he offers to drive Felicity home. He’s lucky Sara’s out with her dad, meaning he can get some alone time with her.

“What’s going on with you? You’ve been off for the past few weeks.” He cuts right to the chase as they get in the car and she sighs. She sounds more tired rather than annoyed at his question, which freaks him out. “Don’t say you’re fine or give me some half-assed answer because I  _ will _ deck you.”

He frowns when his last statement doesn’t bring out a laugh. How far down the rabbit hole is she? “I’m sorry. I just… it’s  _ family _ stuff. It’s just taking me awhile to get through.”

_ Shit. _ Now, Diggle knows more about Felicity’s family life than the others (now with the exception of Sara), but even  _ he _ doesn’t know everything. “Do we need to talk about it?”

“I’d really rather not.” Her answer is instantaneous and she pauses, before adding, “I already talked to Sara about it, so I’m kinda all talked out. I don’t think rehashing it would do any good.”

It eases his mind that she’s at least told  _ someone _ , as she knew it would. He looks her in the eyes, trying to convey his seriousness. “Just tell me it isn’t the parent I  _ really _ don’t want it to be.”

She gives him a soft,  _ exhausted _ look. “I can’t. But I’ve got it handled.”

Diggle knew two things:

One, Noah Kuttler was in town.

Two, Diggle was ready to take his anger out on a punching bag.

**three**

After her conversation with John, Felicity had started to bounce back to her usual self. It had been a month and a half and there had been zero activity from her father. She’d even checked the  _ illegal _ way and found nothing. A weight had been lifted off of her shoulders that she didn’t even know was there.

Sara had been relieved and had finally started to relax her tight hold on her best friend. Felicity had been back to semi-funny jokes and staring at Oliver like he hung the stars. His soft looks had been reciprocated and she melted into his touch again. It made Roy feel like puking but Oliver was lighter than usual, happy to have his girl back so he resisted the urge to comment on it. 

Felicity had been  _ Felicity _ for two weeks when he showed up at Queen Consolidated for their bi-weekly lunch dates. He was in the middle of explaining to her his most recent problem with Thea, the two of them barely out the front doors of QC, when she stopped suddenly. He’d been too lost in his story that he didn’t notice the tall man in front of them until he spoke.

“Flissy! I’m so glad I found you.” The man moved in to hug Felicity and she backed away quickly, tensing, sending Roy into Arsenal mode.

“Who the hell are you?” He asks in a threatening tone.

The man just laughs, looking at Felicity. “Sweetie, is this your boyfriend?”

Rage burns in Roy fast. He doesn’t like the way the man is looking at Felicity, and he’s never seen her look so frail, so nervous. She looks at him, noticing he’s about to snap before putting an arm around him. “Let’s go.”

She practically drags Roy away as the man calls out from behind them. “You can’t run from me, sweetheart. I’ll find you!”

They round a corner and Felicity ignores his pressing questions, instead bringing her phone up to her ear. “Sara? Don’t freak out, but I need to take you up on that offer with your dad?”

He gathers that they make plans to meet at the police station, which only spikes his anxiety. She promises him in the cab that she’ll explain, but she needs to do something first. Soon enough, Sara’s pulling the both of them into a hug before telling Roy to sit on a chair by the wall. Quenton Lance leads them into an interrogation room which he glues his eyes to. He can see them through the window. Sara’s squeezing Felicity’s hand tightly, and Roy gets a sick feeling.

Something was really wrong.

**four**

Tommy takes pride in the fact that he loved Felicity from the start. They’d met briefly outside of Verdant in the early days. Her and Oliver had been in a serious conversation outside of the club, but Tommy was drunk, so he didn’t really care. He practically ran over there and introduced himself to the blonde flirtily, only provoking a laugh out of her. He’d told Ollie he needed him back inside to continue partying and Felicity had made some lame joke that had Tommy smiling in amusement. He invited her in with them and was a little disappointed when she said no, but it faded as he watched the knowing looks exchanged between the woman and his best friend as they said their goodbyes. Oliver was smiling a real smile, one he’d rarely seen him do since he got back from Lian Yu, and he’d watched her all the way until she got into her cab, making sure she got in okay. That was definitely new for his Ollie.

After that, Tommy made a point of saying hello to Felicity whenever he saw her. Granted, it didn’t take long for him to figure out about Oliver’s crusade and start ignoring the both of them. He may have failed most of his high school classes, but he wasn’t a total idiot. Felicity knew Oliver was the Hood, that much was clear. Eventually, the Undertaking had ripped Starling City apart and Tommy found himself not caring that Oliver was the Hood. He wasn’t half as bad as his own father.

Oliver decided to flee the fucking country out of guilt and Tommy was left to deal with the aftermath by himself, which to be honest, he was  _ pissed _ about. It wasn’t long before his own guilt ate him up, and he decided that he  _ had _ to be better than his father. He had to fix what Malcolm had done. He’d found Felicity in the secret lair and asked how he could help. She’d let him, no questions asked.

Oliver was Tommy’s best friend, his  _ brother _ and he always would be. But if Tommy had to choose a replacement, Felicity would be the only option on his list. She was loyal, and kind, and cared a hell of a lot about what happened to Starling and the people in it. She was a great listener, and she was the good kind of funny, which Tommy didn’t get to experience often. 

He had been at the station with Laurel, who needed something for a case when he noticed Roy slumped in a chair, leg bouncing. He went to him immediately, wondering if he'd reverted back to his old ways of thievery. Roy had spared no detail of the account with the strange man and it had the wheels in Tommy's head turning. He spent his time consoling Roy until Sara and Felicity exited the interrogation room. Detective Lance had placed a comforting hand on Felicity's shoulder as he left them.

"Not a word of this to Oliver, okay?" Tommy didn't enjoy keeping secrets from Oliver, but it was Felicity asking, so he agreed without hesitation.

She told them on the walk back to QC that her father was a bad man, just released from prison who she'd very much rather keep away from. That was pretty much all they had gotten out of her. They let her get back to work and the three of them walked out of QC with matching frowns on their faces. He’s about to pry information out of Sara, but Roy beats him to it.

“Sara, I know that’s not all. What’s going on with her? Why doesn’t she want Oliver to know?”

Sara crosses her arms, leaning on one hip and looking at him as if to say  _ really _ ? “I think you can figure that one out on your own, Roy. You know how Ollie gets.”

“Okay, we do.” Tommy chimes in. “But don’t you think we  _ should _ be acting like Ollie right now? If something serious is going on with Felicity…”

“You guys didn’t see him.” Roy wrings his hands together, shaking his head anxiously. “He was smiling at her so creepily, like he was a Disney villain or something. And the way he said her name… it was like he  _ owned _ her. I don’t think him being a ‘bad guy’ explains the half of it.”

Sara shakes her head, letting out a breath, pulling them to a stop on the sidewalk. “It doesn’t. Look, I don’t know much but I do know that he was a violent drunk and that he was pretty emotionally abusive throughout her childhood. He’s the reason she has a shit relationship with her mom and all of the issues that are stopping her from going after what she wants with Oliver are because of him, too. He left her and manipulated her and tried to kidnap her once. This is personal shit, so if she doesn’t want Oliver to know, we need to keep it that way or she might just end up not accepting help from the rest of us, too.”

Tommy nods, face tight in a grimace as he imagines the Felicity he knows growing up with a man like that, completely alone in her twenties until Team Arrow came along. Roy doesn’t look too pleased with Sara’s answer but he nods, agreeing to keep it a secret from Oliver as Sara continues. “Look, all we can do now is be her support system. Let’s not leave her alone, check up on her as much as we can. I know she had some alcohol problems she struggled with when he was around so let’s just… keep an eye on her, okay? And  _ please _ , don’t overwhelm her. She’ll get twitchy and closed off and that doesn’t help anyone.”

“Okay. Let me know if you’ve got something going on and can’t be there. I’ll keep her company.” Tommy tells Sara, clapping a hand on Roy’s shoulder to comfort him. Sometimes he forgets that he’s just a kid with a massive heart.

Sara nods, “I will.” before tugging Roy with her. “Come on. I’ll drop you at Thea’s. You good, Tommy?”

He nods, “Yeah, I’ll see you guys later.” and watches as they walk in the opposite direction he’s going, Sara’s arm swung around Roy’s shoulders.

A part of him wants to just sit in Felicity’s office all day and find something that’ll make her smile, but he knows that’s not what she needs right now, so instead, he goes to see his girlfriend, thoughts swirling around in his mind, thinking about the girl like a bottle of sunshine, who’s just been smashed all over the concrete.

**five**

Laurel and Felicity had sort of got off on the wrong foot, though neither of them knew why. It was a weird situation they were in, when they first met. Laurel was in love with Tommy, that much was true, but there was also a part of her that never got closure from when her boyfriend got on a yacht with her sister and died - for five years, that is. Now, Laurel knew Oliver Queen. They’d been friends for their entire lives and even despite how much he’d changed stranded on that island, she could tell he was different with Felicity. A good different. But it wasn’t just watching the way Oliver smiled when he was with her that made Laurel want to get to know the bubbly IT girl who no one seemed to quite understand; it was the friendship that had been struck between Laurel’s sister and the blonde that forced Laurel to move past whatever bad (probably jealous) vibes she’d had towards her, grow a pair of boobs and  _ talk _ to her.

And once she did, she fell in love. Laurel had always been a boys’ girl. A little tomboy when she was below ten and a boy-crazy tween. She’d never had girlfriends and her sister couldn’t really count. But if there were some machine that could build her the perfect best girlfriend, she’s sure a clone of Felicity would come out of it. She was kind and weirdly wise for someone around the same age as her. She was funny, too and she was the kind of support Laurel could use in her life. She’d barely known Felicity then and yet, she still brought her flowers in the hospital when Laurel was poisoned. It helped that Felicity and her sister lived together, so it’s not like Laurel could try to avoid her if she wanted to - which she doesn’t.

So when her boyfriend returns home on a random Friday with a droopy, sad look on his face and mutters, “Something’s wrong with Felicity.”, it takes everything in Laurel not to call her right then in there.

“I can’t tell you what it is, that’s her business but,” Tommy sighs, looking defeated as he leans his head against the back of their sofa. “I don’t know how to help her.”

Laurel’s first thought is of Ollie. “What about Oliver? Can he help?”

“He doesn’t know. That’s how Felicity wants it, she doesn’t want to freak him out. But Laurel, someone from her past turned up, someone  _ bad _ . And she’s been  _ off _ for weeks…”

Laurel nods, running a hand through her hair, mumbling, “Yeah, I noticed that, too.”

Tommy takes a pause, looking down at their intertwined hands. “I just… she’s the happiest, most positive person I know. And now, everytime we look at her, it’s like she’s looking through us. I don’t know what to do.”

His girlfriend sighs, nodding in understanding, as she thinks about all the interactions she’s had with Felicity for the past year or so. Sweet, kind, positive. Just two months ago, they had dinner with Sara in the apartment and ended the night on the floor, stomachs in stitches from laughter. Tommy shifts onto the side, looking at her with those soul-bearing eyes that Laurel fell in love with and says, “When I was at my lowest after the Undertaking and I’d pushed you away, Felicity was the one who got through to me. She told me to get my shit together and decide what person I wanted to be, and to let you in, in order to get there. I don’t know where I’d be if she wasn’t there for me.”

“So, who’s gonna be that person for her? Does she have any family?” Laurel asks, to which Tommy shakes his head sadly. “So, we’ll be her family.” She says with conviction. Felicity deserves that much.

**+one**

To Oliver’s credit, it only takes him three weeks to figure it out, and he’s been distracted lately anyways. He’s had a feeling for a while; he’s noticed the knowing glances shared between the rest of the team, noticed the more frequent lunch dates Felicity’s been having with Laurel, the less frequent nights Sara spends away from her. He can only take so much pouting and worried looks before he’s had enough and is asking Felicity to stay behind with him one night.

The rest of the team is looking hesitant and Sara squeezes her hand comfortingly before she leaves and Oliver’s starting to think that she’s not just having a regular old hard time. Once they’re out of sight and Felicity’s spinning in her chair, he places his hand on the arm to stop it and kneels down in front of her, so they’re face to face. “Felicity. What is going on with you?”

She rests her head on her hand, avoiding his gaze. “I’m guessing if I say ‘nothing’ you won’t believe me?” He shakes his head as if to say  _ not likely _ and she sighs, speaking so quietly he can barely hear her. “I don’t want to talk about it, Oliver.”

He frowns, using his soft voice when he says, “Since when? You’re the most talkative person I know.”  _ You might have noticed I don’t talk a lot about my family, _ he remembers her saying, only a few months prior. “Is it about your family?”

She’s silent for a minute before she finally looks up at him, blinking away tears that threaten to fall. “I don’t know what to do.” She whispers, brokenly.

He shakes his head, confusion creasing his features. “About what?”

“My dad’s in Starling. He just got out of prison.” Oliver’s face is wiped clean of confusion, a sympathetic, yet surprised look on his face. “He tried to talk to me when I was at lunch with Roy. I went to Quentin but my dad’s never really cared to listen to law enforcement. The restraining orders never kept him from coming after me.”

“Why do you think he’s coming after you? What does he want?” Oliver asks, placing a hand over hers and moving his thumb back and forth, hopefully to calm her down.

“He’s… not well, Oliver.” She starts, grabbing onto his hand tightly. “He thinks I’m some  _ possession _ . Like he has the right to me, or something. He tried to kidnap me once.”

She takes a shaky breath and he stares down at their hands, whispering, “Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“Because I don’t want to be defined by the things that happened in my past. I don’t wanna live with him in my head. I want… I want to be free.” The last part is so soft that he can almost hear it breaking his heart.

“Felicity, he has no power over you. Not anymore.” He says certainly, looking her in the eyes so she knows he’s sincere. “Just because he’s blood doesn’t mean he’s your family. He’s not.  _ I’m _ your family. I know things have been weird since Russia…” He brings a hand up to cup her cheek and she leans into it the way he loves and he just… “You still got me. I promise.”

  
_ Family _ , she thinks. If she can’t have Oliver the way she dreams about, she thinks she can settle for him being her family.

**Author's Note:**

> title from "hoax" by Taylor Swift
> 
> thanks for reading!!
> 
> leave a comment if you liked it :)


End file.
